Translanguaging as a Pedagogy: A Critical Examination of the Gap Between Theory and Practice

• In Event: Educators' Perspectives on the Translanguaging  Landscape in Multilingual Educational Contexts

Abstract

Academia has conceptualized translanguaging as a pedagogical approach that recognizes multilingual students’ assets by leveraging their linguistic capital in teaching and learning (Leung & Valdes, 2019). Yet, our understanding of practitioners’ perspectives on translanguaging as a pedagogy is still developing and research in this area is limited. For educators who serve multilingual students, it is critical that they possess a clear pedagogical stance to contest established hegemonic ideologies about language use in schools (Alfaro & Bartolomé, 2017). Otherwise, educators run the risk of seeing translanguaging as a fad or strategy and missing what scholars see as its transformative potential for contesting monolingual ideologies and practices. This paper examines translanguaging through the lens of pedagogical clarity and juxtaposes current theoretical and practical perspectives in the field.



To identify academic perspectives, I conducted a literature review of translanguaging as a pedagogy from 2009 through the present focusing on 4 of the top-rated journals in education research. To better understand educators’ perspectives on translanguaging and its use in bilingual classrooms across the United States, I designed and administered a survey during the spring and summer of 2019. An online survey offered the ability to collect larger samples of information that would have been harder to collect through observation (Creswell, 2017). The survey included items about respondents’ perceptions on the beliefs and use of translanguaging in teaching and learning, as well as the perceived benefits and potential consequences of its use.



These items were based on the work of Garcia (e.g., 2015, 2017). The survey also included two open-ended questions asking participants to define translanguaging and to share examples of their practice. The survey was disseminated through the National Dual Language Forum (NDLF), a group interested in advancing policy and research related to dual language immersion, including the Center for Applied Linguistics, Dual Language Education of New Mexico, the National Association of Bilingual Educators, and WIDA, among other organizations. They used lists, social media, and their websites to disseminate the survey among their membership. A group of 4 researchers conducted the analysis of data -descriptive statistics and regression analysis of the multiple-choice items and a thematic analysis of the responses to the open-ended questions.



Findings suggest that while many survey participants were familiar with the term translanguaging, their understanding and use of the term was different from the ways in which scholars conceptualize it. Similarly, most survey participants demonstrated high levels of support for translanguaging as a pedagogy, but evidence showed a gap between what many of them believed its potential to be and the ways in which they incorporated it in their practice. These findings insinuate educators’ need to develop critical consciousness of their pedagogy and how translanguaging fits within it. Without a clear pedagogical stance, educators are more likely to incorporate translanguaging as a strategy rather than a transformative pedagogy. While doing so leverages multilingual students’ linguistic capital in learning, the opportunity to contest monolingual ideologies that maintain the systems of oppression and sustain the marginalization of multilingual students may remain amiss.

Author

• Mariana Castro, University of Wisconsin - Madison